Bite blocks driving me crazy

[tartanhabit]

I've been in damon upper braces for 5 months and this week I got the lower ones fitted now that there's some more space.

AND bite blocks on the back lower molars. Oh boy, have I had it easy up to now apparently! This is so much harder suddenly.

The bite blocks:

Block my bite very successfully. Now I cannot chew a thing.

Somehow make my jaw hang down a bit. Before, my back molars top and bottom used to meet each other quite nicely, making for a fairly comfortable resting face position. Now my jaw has dropped down to make room for these damn things, giving me a lot of facial tension, headaches daily, discomfort and excess saliva/nausea. I wasn't even warned about any of this coming in the process (yes, I'm still with my terrible communicator ortho).

Anyone experienced any of this? The blocks themselves are quite pointy, not a flat profile but more a mini mountain shape, so they make for a very awkward resting face situation.

Suggestions? If I'm not adjusting well by next week, I'm going to ask to see my ortho again for her to come up with some solutions as I'm struggling with the jaw tension etc. Projected time with these is 2 to 3 months.

[mapleleafman888]

It's pretty normal to have that kind of pain and I remember them sucking, but they got better with time for me. I had my bite blocks for 9 months or so...the first couple weeks were the worst. Just give it some time and the more you just convince yourself this is the new normal the easier it gets to adjust.

[tartanhabit]

Ha, the new normal! Good advice, thanks. I'm going to check out your blog - curious to see how your 18 months of damons went mapleleafman

[ItsFreyja]

I've had bite blocks for 6 months now and I promise it will get better for you as you get used to them. I did have some TMJ pain in the beginning as my jaw resisted assuming its new resting position, but that improved after the first couple of weeks. You'll get very good at pseudo-chewing if you push yourself to eat somewhat normally. Hang in there.

[mapleleafman888]

Ha, the new normal! Good advice, thanks. I'm going to check out your blog - curious to see how your 18 months of damons went mapleleafman

Yeah what else are you going to do though? If they take the blocks off your teeth will probably hit the brackets.

[diamant]

I've had my bite blocks since getting braced 11 days ago, and I very much sympathize with you! Chewing is near impossible, so I've been sticking to foods that I can more or less swallow. It's less awkward now that it was initially, but it's still pretty weird. I can only hope it gets better.

Good luck!

[tartanhabit]

Good luck adjusting Diamant. I can tell already eating is getting a bit easier - well, soft bread is now a possibility! Wow, bite blocks from the beginning? As I said, makes me realize these last 5 months without lower braces and without these blocks have been relatively easy.

[diamant]

Thanks, tartanhabit! Haha, I know, I feel like the bite blocks are their own form of torture. I think being in braces alone would be fine and easy breezy, but adding the bite blocks is just a whole new level of unfair.

Ah well, I'm making it work! It takes me half as long to eat now as it did when I got everything almost two weeks ago, so I must be getting used to them!